Yo-yo! with Uncle David

David, Kelsey, and Eva were in town for quick visits last weekend and this weekend while they spent the week in southern Utah with Kelsey's Dad and Other Mom. We loved seeing all of them!

Uncle David passing on some important skills to his nephews...
Reid's turn:
 

 Aiden's turn:
 

Guess Who Stole the Show

Overall, the boys did a great job at the school board meeting tonight. They were a little disappointed that we only got to ride an elevator and not an escalator. Such a big building and no escalator?!?

Before the meeting started, the Jazz band from my school was the entertainment. Just a coincidence, I believe. They did a great job, but the boys' interest soon faded.

My principal came into my classroom a couple of weeks ago to take a picture of me for a shout-out in the district employee newsletter. (Scroll down a ways.) When that picture appeared on the screen at the school board meeting, the boys perked up and started saying "That's Mommy!" "That's my mommy!" "Look!" and pointed up at the screen. As you'll hear in the video, the Superintendent said she couldn't beat that introduction. She had some very nice things to say and I'm really glad Eric thought to video tape it, because I didn't catch everything she said the first time. I wonder why.



I think my 15 minutes are almost up, which is fine with me. I appreciate the recognition I've received and I'm very glad I went through the National Board process. It was a good way to formally reflect on my teaching and has given me lots of ideas for continuing to improve on my craft.

One final mention in the school board's Twitter feed this evening. Missed the "B" in Brusven, but my first name was correct! (In case you're not familiar with Twitter, these are listed in reverse chronological order.) See, the boys made a lasting impression.

Thanks for my mom for attending too and taking pictures. Tough light to get a good picture with my phone.

Checking In

Howdy!
Still here. Still lots happening with not enough time to report out to the ol' blog. Here are a few pics until I have more time to properly get caught up.

Supper with Grandma at Noodles and Co. while Eric was out of town.

Eric built a snowman with the boys. They were so excited to show me when I arrived home from exercise class. Reid was especially proud of their efforts and is looking forward to the next round of snow.

We FaceTimed with "Eba" and Uncle "Dabid" briefly before supper tonight. To make us laugh, Eva put a toy bucket on her head even though she's not supposed to. She said "Hi", "Aiden", "Reid", and "Eric". Not too shabby!

The view from Colorado:

    

Aiden was scowling a little because he was telling us he was "a little bit shy" at that moment and wasn't sure he could say hi:

Reid saying hi to Eva with a wave thrown in:

The view from Minnesota:

    

I love technology. I'm still amazed at all of the advances just over the past 10 years. Can't wait to see what the future brings.

Tomorrow evening we're off to the school board meeting so I can be honored for my National Board Certification. My mom should be able to go and I'm hoping Eric will be up for taking the boys too so Eric can be there. The lady who invited me encouraged me to bring the boys and said we can duck out when it's time to get down to business. It's nice to be honored.

Night, all.

Weighing In

Eric and I have talked about weighing and measuring the boys for a few months but keep forgetting to get the  job done. We finally did so this past Sunday. They've both gotten so tall with those long legs. Love their knobby knees too!

Reid is now 38.5 inches tall and weighs 34 pounds. He's almost taller than my measuring stick which is 40 inches. We may need to break out the tape measure next time.

Aiden is now 36.5 inches tall and weighs 32.2 pounds. We're still in diapers for now, but maybe we'll try out potty training during Spring Break. I'm still not quite sure how I'll train them at the same time. Some of my twin books suggested training one and then the other, but I'm thinking we'll experience some jealousy if that happens. Perhaps peer pressure can work to our advantage.

Here you can see that Aiden still has a bruise in the middle of his dimple on his left cheek. That's from when he spun into Grandpa and Grandma's piano bench in early January in Ohio. I guess the dimple caused the blood to pool there a little longer.

Joe Cool:

I love this sly grin of his. I'm glad I was able to capture it because it is a very typical look for Reid:

Loves to push all buttons:

January - February

More great weather as Eric and Reid kick the soccer ball:

Aiden wanted hang out with me while I was taking pics:

I took over the closet in our guest bedroom so I could organize my crafty stuff:

Hanging out:

More leg warmers for Eva- Valentine's, St. Patrick's, and Easter:

Reid made "lunch" for me:

Vroom, vroom!

Reid has about 20 sports he likes to play and rotate through all of them in a 10 minute period of time:

Aiden made "lunch" for me next:

The remains of Reid's snowman:

Target run:

Reid's favorite iPad app is currently "Temple Run". It consists of moving a guy through obstacles that he must jump over, duck under, run around, etc. The boys started setting up their own Temple Run courses:

We celebrated Eric's birthday on Monday. Reid was excited to help me place the candles:

I made German Chocolate Cake Bars and they turned out great!

The boys helped me pack my lunch bag. Yes, I had plenty of spoons that day:

I made a couple of dresses for Eva using a really cute pattern I found on Pinterest:

I'm not normally of user of rick rack, but I think it was the touch that made the dress:

I added a little piece of ribbon to mark the back:

Helping Mommy with waffles:

Temple Run:

Kick the beach ball:

Aiden wanted to take a picture:

Lots of pictures!

Checking out the rain:

Playing around with the "Over" app:

Aiden lining up his cars:

Temple Run:

Supervising Daddy:

My mom came over to school on Friday to watch her neighbor girl perform with her jump rope team:

On Friday night we went to Gunther Toody's diner. We hadn't been there since a couple of days before my dad first got sick. We had a nice time:

Back at Grandma's house, Reid playing with the phone that Papa bought:

Aiden catching some reading time:

Putting lotion on their cheeks after bath time:

Reid's Google search while he was holding my phone. Do you think it's a secret toddler word?

Temple Run:

Time for some calculations:

And helping Mommy with laundry:

And cooking muffins:

And eating all of the toppings (chocolate chips and craisins) before I had a chance to use them:

Another Pinterest inspired project- Bananagram tiles glued to magnets:

Aiden driving his car up my leg:

The future is here- flying cars:

Someday they'll be twice as tall and won't need the chairs: